Demarco Cox’s eyes lit up when Indianapolis Colts general manager Ryan Grigson asked him an unexpected question last Thursday.
“Do you want to be a Colt?”
The former Tech center was quick to answer in the affirmative, the beginning of what could turn out to be one of the most unlikely professional sports careers of any Tech athlete. Cox, who last played football in high school in 2009, was signed last Thursday to an undrafted free agent contract by the Colts.
The signing completed a quick process that, at least on Cox’s end, began Wednesday when Colts scout Jon Shaw reached out to him, inquiring about his interest in the NFL and then bringing him up the same day to Indianapolis. He worked out for the Colts Thursday and received a contract offer the same day.
“I was blindsided,” Cox said. “I didn’t have a clue they were going to sign me.”
For the Colts, it isn’t out of the ordinary. Two members of the roster, offensive lineman Joe Reitz and tight end Erik Swoope, were both college basketball players who didn’t play a down of college football. Two summers ago, they signed Daniel Adongo, a Kenyan rugby player who had never played football. A Grigson mantra is “no stone unturned.”
"If you have an opportunity like this," Cox said, "there's no way you're going to turn it down."
If football doesn’t work out, Cox would consider returning to basketball, the game he chose over football as a high schooler, when he was a nationally-ranked prospect as an offensive tackle out of Yazoo City, Miss. He doesn’t plan on having to do so, though. He will return to Indianapolis next month to begin offseason training.
“I have that mindset, I know I can (play),” he said.
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